Rack for binding bundles



Aug. 5, 1969 F. F. BRUNETTE 3,459,120

RACK FOR BINDING BUNDLES l Filed May 15, 1967 United States PatentOffice 3,459,120 Patented Aug. 5, 1969 3,459,120 RACK FOR BINDINGBUNDLES Fredrick F. Brunette, 22804 Brookdale, Farmington, Mich. 48024Filed May 15, 1967, Ser. No. 638,216 Int. Cl. B65b 13/02 U.S. Cl.100--34 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A four sided, open toppedcontainer is supported by a frame a'bove a base. A continuous, openended, narrow opening extends down the mid-section of each of thecontainer sides and extends in the container bottom to a commonintersection in the middle of the bottom. A lball of twine, supported onthe base, and below the common intersection provides a strand forencircling a stack of collapsed carboard boxes confined Within thecontainer in two perpendicular directions without manipulating thestack.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention elatesto a rack for containing a stack of collapsed cardboard 'boxes with thesupporting sections arranged to permit the stack to be encircled by astrand of twine in at least two directions without moving the stack.

Description of the prior art It is common practice to bind accumulationsof papers, collapsed carboard boxes and the like into convenient bundlesfor transportation. A common problem encountered in Ibinding a stack ofarticles of this character is the diiculty in forming a :loop of abinding strand around the stack in a direction which includes the lowersupported surfaces.

The problems in binding a stack of articles of this character take twogeneral forms. First if the stack is of any size, the weight of thestack contributes to the difliculty in manipulating the binding twineunder the lower portions of the stack. This problem is even morepronounced where the stack must be bound by two perpendicular loops ofbinding twine.

The second problem is related to binding a stack of articles havingnon-uniform dimensions. Thus, collapsed carboard boxes of various sizesare often difficult to stack to a convenient height because of theirtendency to collapse.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a rack havingsupport members arranged to confine a number of articles in a stack andpermitting the stack to be bundled by encircling the stack in at leasttwo directions without moving the stack from its supporting surface.

SUMMARY The preferred embodiment of the present invention, which will besubsequently described in greater detail takes the form of a wheeledframe having a base and four upstanding corner supports defining agenerally foursided structure. A pair of parallel U-shaped tubularmembers have their legs closely spaced apart and extending upwardly fromthe base to form the midportion of a pair of opposite sides of the rack.A second pair of parallel U-shaped tubular members also having upwardlydirected legs closely spaced apart form the midportion of the remainingpair of sides of the rack. A generally horizontal bundle supportingsection is attached to each corner upright member and its neighboringlegs.

The four bundle supporting sections have their upper surfaces disposedin a common horizontal plane and are spaced apart from one another todene a pair of perpendicular and intersecting openings forming ahorizontal xtension of each of the narrow openings defined by the egs.

The leg members and the corner posts extend above the bundle supportingsections to support Wall sections connecting each corner upright and itsneighboring leg members. Thus, the bundle supporting sections and thewall sections dene a four-sided open topped container for confiningarticles which are disposed therein so that they may be stacked oneabove the other to a suitable height. The continuous intersecting narrowopenings in the sides and bottom of the container permit a strand ofbinding material to be encircled about the stack in at least twodirections without removing the stack from its supporting surface.

A ball of twine is preferably disposed in a container supported by thebase and below the intersection of the narrow openings so that a strandof suitable length can be conveniently unwound.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a rack forsupporting a stack of collapsed cardboard boxes or the like for bundlingwith the stack supporting sections arranged so that a binding strand canbe wrapped around the stack in at least two perpendicular directionsincluding the lower supported sides of the stack without moving thestack from its supporting surface.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a container forconfining stackable articles and permitting the stacked articles to bebound by a strand encircling its horizontal surfaces -without displacingthe stack from its supporting surfaces.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a rack forbundling papers and the like with side walls for confining the stackedpapers and a continuous narrow opening connecting each pair of oppositeside walls and the base, the continuous openings permitting anuninterrupted access to the stack for bundle tying means.

Still further objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the inventionpertains upon reference to the following detailed description:

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The description refers to the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference characters refer to like partsthroughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rack useful for containing andbundling a stack of articles and illustrating a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rack illustrated in FIG. l; and

FIG. 3 is a transverse elevational sectional view taken along lines 3-3of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Now referring to the drawings, apreferred bundle binding rack comprises four, tubular, upright, cornermembers 10 spaced apart from one another and connected by a pair oflong, horizontal, support members 12 and a pair of short, horizontal,supports 14. A pair of diagonal braces 16 connect each of the cornermembers 10 to the long horizontal supports 12 and the short horizontalsupports 14. Thus, the four corner members 10 and their connectingsupport members 12 and 14 provide a four-sided structure having a pairof long sides 18 connected by a pair of short sides 20.

Wheeled means 22 are attached to the lower end of each of the cornermembers 10, preferably with a pair of wheels 22 associated with one ofthe short sides 20 mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axiswhile the opposite pair of wheels 22 are fixed from pivotal movement sothat the bundle binding rack is steerable as well as mobile.

A pair of tubular U-shaped members 24 having upwardly directed legsections 26 are attached to each of the long horizontal supports 12. TheU-shaped members 24 are similar and arranged so their companion legsection 26 are arranged in spaced apart parallel relationship. The legs26 are arranged midway between the corner members 10 and are spacedapart a distance sufficient to accommodate a manual binding operation.

A second pair of tubular U-shaped members 28 having upwardly directedleg elements 30 are attached to the short horizontal supporting member14 midway between the corner members 10` associated with the short sides20. The U-shaped members 28 are similar to one another and arranged sothat each pair of legs 30 are arranged in a spaced apart parallelrelationship to permit a manual binding operation to be performedtherebetween. The bight portions of the U-shaped members 24 are arrangedin an overlapping abutting relationship with the elongated bightportions of the U-shaped members 28 to therein define a base for therack.

Preferably the upper ends of the corner members 10 and the legs 26 and30 extend to a common vertical height. An elongated L-shaped wire member32 connects each corner member 10 with its neighboring leg elements 26and 30. A plurality of L-shaped wire members having horizontal legs 34and vertical legs 36 are carried by each L-shaped member 32. The legs 34carried by each member 32 comprise what will be referred to as ahorizontal bundle supporting section 38, while the vertical legs 36 forma vertical wall section 40.

A diagonal brace member 42 supports each bundle supporting section 38with its lower end attached to a leg 30 and its upper end attached tothe horizontal portion of an L-shaped member 32. Thus, the sections 38are supported so that the upper surfaces lie in a common horizontalplane.

A rectangular wire member 44 connects each of the corner members 10 withits neighboring leg 30 and provides means for supporting a plurality ofvertical wire members 46. Each rectangular wire 44 and its associatedvertical wire members 46 form a vertical wall section 47.

Thus, it can be seen that the horizontal supporting sections 38, thevertical wall sections 40 and the vertical wall sections 47 provide anopen-topped four-sided container for confining a plurality of articlessuch as paper, collapsed cardboard cartons and the like in a stackedarrangement.

Referring to FIG. 2, the horizontal legs 34 of the L- shaped member 32extend parallel to one another from the supporting legs 26 and 30 todefine an elongated opening 48 extending between the short sides 20 ofthe rack and a second elongated opening 50 extending between the longsides 18 of the rack. The legs 30 provide an upward extension of theelongated opening in each of the short sides Z while the legs 26 providean upward extension of the opening 50 in each of the long sides 18 ofthe rack. It can be seen that the openings 48 and 50 intersect in themidportion of the bundle supporting surface and are arranged at aperpendicular relationship to one another.

Referring to FIG. 1, a stack of articles indicated at 52 can be stackedon the supporting sections 38 and easily bound by a continuous strand 54of twine or other suitable binding material by encircling the stack 52about its midsection in two perpendicular directions. The openings 48and 50 permit the strand 54 to be wrapped about the stack without movingthe stack from its supporting sections 38. This binding operation can beperformed in a quick and easy manner because the legs 26 and 30 arespaced apart a distance permitting the users arms to be insertedtherebetween in performing the binding operation.

CTI

A flat supporting member 56 is fixed at the intersections of the bightportions of the U-shaped members 24 and 28 and carries an open toppedcylindrical receptacle 58. The receptacle 58 provides means for storinga ball of twine 60 which is unwound as necessary to provide the strands54 for wrapping the stacks.

As can best be seen in FIG. 2, the receptacle 58 is preferably disposeddirectly below the intersection of the openings 48 and S0 so that thefree end of the twine is readily accessible to the user. Preferably thecorners of the horizontal portions of the L-shaped members 32 are bentaway from the intersection to permit a large ball of twine 60 to bedeposited downwardly between the supporting sections 38 and into thereceptacle S8.

Thus, it can be seen that I have described in detail a mobile rackproviding means for confining collapsed cardboard boxes, paper and thelike in a stacked arrangement and permitting an uninterrupted accessaround the midportions of the stack so that a binding element can beeasily encircled around the supported portions of the stack. Thepreferred rack permits a stack of articles to be bundled without movingthe stack during the binding operation and while confining the articlesin the stacked arrangement to prevent collapsing.

I claim:

1. A rack useful for bundling a stack of cardboard boxes, paper andother like articles, comprising:

(a) a frame having a base and a plurality of upright support elementsextending upwardly from said base,

(b) a plurality of bundle supporting sections attached to said uprightsupport elements, said bundle supporting sections having upper surfacesections providing a generally horizontal bundle supporting surfacespaced above said base, said bundle supporting sections arranged suchthat the upper surface sections are arranged in spaced apartrelationship to define a pair of perpendicularly related elongatedopenings in said bundle supporting surface, said openings intersectingin a central portion of said bundle supporting surface, and each of saidelongated openings permitting access to bundle binding means to a lowersupported surface of the stack of articles disposed on said bundlesupporting surface, and

(c) a container affixed to said base below and adjacent the intersectionof said openings for supporting a continuous strand for binding saidstack whereby said container permits a feed-out of said strand in aclose proximity to said elongated openings.

2. The rack as defined in claim 1 and including wheel means supportingsaid frame.

3. A rack useful for bundling a stack of cardboard boxes, paper and thelike, comprising:

(a) a frame having a base and a plurality of upright support elementsextending upwardly from said base,

(b) a plurality of bundle supporting sections attached to said uprightsupport elements, said bundle supporting sections having upper surfacesections providing a generally horizontal bundle supporting surfacespaced above said base, said bundle supporting sections arranged suchthat the upper surface sections are spaced to define a pair ofperpendicularly related elongated openings in said bundle supportingsurface, and each of said elongated openings permitting access forbundle binding means to a lower supported surface of a stack of articlesdisposed on said bundle supporting surface, and

(c) said frame further comprising a pair of elongated,

U-shaped members associated with each of said elongated openings, eachof said U-shaped members having a bight section forming a part of saidbase and upwardly directed legs supporting said bundle supportingsections, each of said U-shaped members of said pairs arranged inparallel relationship and spaced apart from one another a distancesufficient to permit continuous uninterrupted access for said bundlebinding means between the corresponding legs of said U-shaped membersand around a stack of articles disposed on said bundle supportingsurface.

4. A rack as defined in claim 3, wherein the legs of said U-shapedmembers extend upwardly and above said bundle supporting surface adistance suliicient to provide lateral support to a stack of articlesdisposed on said bundle supporting surface.

5. A rack as defined in claim 3, including means for supporting acontinuous strand of said bundle binding means, said strand supportingmeans permitting7 a feed-out of said strand in a close proximity to saidelongated opening.

6. A rack as defined in claim 5, wherein said strand supporting means isxed to said base below said bundle supporting surface and arranged topermit feed-out of said continuous strand in close proximity to theintersection of said elongated openings.

7. A rack as defined in claim 5, wherein said strand supporting meanscomprises a container having upwardly directed sidewalls and an opentop, said container being fixed to said base, said open top arrangedbelow the intersection of said elongated openings, and said intersectionproviding an opening sufficient to permit a ball of binding twine to bedeposited downwardly through said opening and into said container.

8. A rack as defined in claim 3, wherein said frame has upwardlydirected elongated corner members, and

including wall sections joining each of said legs to a corner member sothat the wall sections and said bundle supporting sections define agenerally rectangular and open topped container for a stack of articlespermitting access for bundle binding means to encircle said stack with acontinuous strand about at least two perpendicular directions withoutmoving said stack.

9. A rack as dened in claim 8, including wheel means supportablyattached at the lower end of said corner members.

l0. A rack as defined in claim 9, wherein the bight portions of saidU-shaped members form said base and including means for containing aball of a continuous strand supported on said base, said containingmeans permitting feed-out of said strand below the intersection of saidelongated openings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,364,518 12/ 1944 Clouser100e-34 2,575,048 11/1951 Dankert 100-34 XR 2,599,290 6/ 1952 Schwenzer1004-1 2,639,037 5/ 1953 Friend 100-34 XR 2,818,180 12/1957 Keene 100-34XR 2,839,990 6/1958 Bailar 100-1 3,139,814 7/1964 Sanders 100-34 BILLY JWILHITE, Primary Examiner

